Transfer of knowledge between theoretical and practical contexts: How students make meaning of a practical influenced study task in an educational setting

Petersson, Gunilla

Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.

Jakobsson Öhrn, Harriet

Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.

2008 (English)Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)

Abstract [en]

In higher vocational education the learning process is supposed to be supported both by theoretical studies and training in the practical field. Studies have shown that it can be difficult for the student to see the connection between theory and practice. The aim of this paper is to highlight how students in higher vocational education carry out and relate a practical influenced study task given in an educational setting. The paper takes its point of departure in higher vocational education, nursing and police students’. Higher vocational education is mostly based on experience from the practical discourse in order to exemplify the theoretical course content. The students´ experience knowledge is often used as a scaffold to help the student make a transition between the more decontextualized educational setting and the professional setting in order to facilitate their learning process. But how are the students’ conceptions of this arrangement? Can they see the underlying purpose or is it only blurring their own learning process? The result, based on an intentional analysis of data from police and nursing students, indicates that this knowledge transition between theoretical and practical contexts is complex. Four different categories appear and it is only in one of the categories, the students seem to be able to elaborate knowledge both from the theoretical and practical contexts in relation to the task.